presently

Etymology

It is formed from English present + -ly.^[2][3][4][5] The adjective is from Old French present (“evident, at hand”) and directly from Latin praesēns (“at hand; immediate, prompt”).^[3] The OED compares French présentement and Anglo-Norman presentement, which had already meant "at this time, now" (about 1155 in Old French), "in person, so as to be present" (1212 in Anglo-Norman) and "at the time referred to" (mid 13th century).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Without delay, at once: 1385, in a document printed in W. Fraser's Red Book of Grandtully, rycht than presently frely delyueryt.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century, glossing it "immediately, at this time".^[3] The Middle English Dictionary lists "in actual presence, in person" first.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The meanings argued over today are all Middle English: "at once" from 1385, "now" from before 1425 in a manuscript of Chaucer's Boece (idoon presently ryght now), and "in a little while" from about 1443 in the OED's reading.^[2] Other sources date the slackening later: Etymonline has the word relax into "sooner or later, by and by" between the mid 15th and mid 17th centuries,^[3] and the Random House text has "soon" arise gradually during the 16th century.^[7] The same weakening happened to anon,^[7] and to soon itself, which in Old English meant "immediately".^[8] The older force was still there in the Authorized Version, and presently the fig-tree withered away,^[4] but "at once" is now archaic.^[4][9]

As for "now", Johnson (1755) put "at present; at this time; now" first, ahead of "immediately; soon after",^[10] and his 1773 edition marks it obsolete.^[10] The American Heritage Dictionary says it seems to have left the written record in the 1600s while probably surviving in speech,^[9] whereas the OED records it without a break.^[2] Wright's dialect dictionary (1898–1905) found "now" or "immediately" alive in Scotland, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Somerset and Devon, with an example in the Scoticisms of 1787; in west Somerset it was "still used habitually by elderly people of the better class".^[11] The Shorter Oxford calls "now" chiefly Scottish and North American,^[5] while the Random House text finds it standard in both Britain and the United States.^[7]

Timeline

• 1385 – without delay, at once.^[2]
• before 1425 – at the present time, now.^[2]
• c. 1425 – so as to be present, in person (obsolete by 1579).^[2][6]
• c. 1443 – in a little while, soon.^[2]
• before 1518 – at the time referred to, just then (obsolete by 1740).^[2]
• 1580 – as an immediate consequence, necessarily.^[2]
• 1593 – for the present, on this occasion (obsolete by 1632).^[2]
• 1601 – immediately in space, so as to be adjacent (obsolete by 1661).^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In a short time; soon: The plumber will be here presently.^[9][4][12]
2. At the present time; now, currently: The museum is presently closed for repairs.^[4][9][12]
3. (archaic) Without delay; immediately, at once.^[4][9][5]
4. (rare) As a direct result or conclusion; necessarily.^[2][5][13]
5. (obsolete, c. 1425–1579) So as to be present; in person, on the spot.^[2][5]
6. (obsolete, 1518–1740) At the time referred to; just then.^[2][5]
7. (obsolete, 1593–1632) For the present, for the time being.^[2][13]
8. (obsolete, 1601–1661) Immediately in space or relation; so as to be adjacent.^[2][5]

Related words

• present
• presence

Usage notes

Some critics hold that presently should mean only "soon", perhaps because dictionaries were slow to treat the sense "now".^[9] In four surveys from 1965 to 1999, 47–50 percent of the American Heritage Usage Panel accepted "now", and 63 percent did by 2011.^[9] The two senses are rarely confused in practice: "now" usually goes with the present tense and "soon" often with the future.^[7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
12. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers